You Deserve It
by Cooking Spray
Summary: A short holiday themed story concerning a former princess's worries and a no longer overshadowed boy's consolations. Hints at ArixMarlene, one shot.


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You Deserve It

by Cooking Spray

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Two immensely concentrated jade eyes were riveted to a large quantity of brownish, bubbling liquid in an iron pot, from which large clouds of angry, bilious steam rose. The owner of these eyes clutched a wooden spoon in their hand, as if to be ready on a moment's notice if the boiling substance suddenly decided to erupt. The scene was an odd one, but such was to be expected if you knew the party in question.

An auburn-haired boy entered the lair of the culinary-occupied girl, swallowing and half-choking on a laugh when he saw the intensity with which she paid to her dinner. "Ah, Marlene. . . I don't think you don't have to be _that _attentive. . ."

The girl turned to the sound with a snap, a stain of embarrassment sweeping her face. "Ari!" She stood flushed and shocked, heart racing. 

He pulled out a chair from the elaborately decorated table and sat. That was another one of the former princess's holiday efforts. He appraised a cinnamon-scented candle stick with authentic holly winding up its holder, it bringing a small smile to his face. He had to appreciate her efforts. For someone pampered and cruelly mislead all her life, she had put her all into adjusting to normal life.

"I said, I don't think the soup's going to go anywhere. Sit down and take a break." He motioned to the chair beside him.

Her cheeks dulled and her breaths became more fluent as she approached the table, sinking into it. She was glad she'd added those seat cushions at the last moment. They were much more comfortable than hard wood.

"Why are you so uptight? It's not like we have any major guests over, not anyone we don't know. They'll probably just destroy everything within the first five minutes they arrive, you know that."

Marlene studied her fingernails. "I just. . . I want to show them that I'm worth something. That I'm not just a stuck-up royal brat. I don't want to mess up like last time; I'm still such a failure at cooking." Her eyes conveyed desperation.

He sighed. Maybe this was one of the after affects of being a puppet all your life, but still, that self-depreciative attitude had to go. "Marlene, if they're really your friends, you won't _have _to prove it to them. Everyone knows what you've been through, and regardless of how they felt before, I'm sure they'll all try their best to give a second chance. There's no one who deserves it more than you."

Her cheeks teemed with a soft pink hue, and she was unable to pull her eyes from the table. Before, when she was still the naive, haughty and demanding royal chess piece of Beiloune, meeting Ari had changed her. Although she chastised him for that encounter after the defeat of the Bubble Evil King, he had shaken her from her guard. Slowly, he intrigued her, began to expose to her the realities of the world, fascinating in his ways of silence. As Princess, she was always in denial of such feelings, but the first time she came to realization with their presence was with the music box. They barely knew each other, and yet, he had willingly awarded the sacred keepsake to her, badly as she had treated him. She felt undeserving, almost guilty. From that time on, her feelings had slowly began to pour into the light and take root, strengthening every day she observed him. And then, the day when her carefully-sculpted world began to crash into ruins upon her, the day Beiloune revealed his deceptions, she suddenly, in a burst of emotion, let them be known. It was a culmination of her anger at being a pawn, of becoming aware that she had been manipulated. She had come to hold only one thing dear, and now that she was exposed as a fraud, she would die protecting it if the need arose. She paid her penance, and was returned to a mere doll, all that she had ever been.

For weeks, months, she did not see him. It was best, she thought. She was only the pathetic plaything of a sadistic puppet master, all that she had known had been destroyed. Her life was a lie. The only thing that she was certain that actually existed were the trials with Ari that she had endured the last few weeks of her life. Princess Marlene was no longer.

Marlene knew of the doll. Oh, how she knew. For centuries she had been shut up alone in a constant turmoil without escape. She sympathized with the unfortunate copy, felt her pain. They had both been borne from beds of lies, she and her stone sister. So when the Princess began to become aware of the wretchedness of her existence, when she met the boy of the name Ari, and sacrificed her miserable life as my copy for him, Marlene grew to love him as well. The last thing that had connected her to the outside world was dead. But she hoped that her sister's judgments were correct of Ari, and she cried and prayed that he had liked her enough that he would come and rescue her. Marlene's prayers came true. Ari defeated Beiloune and released her from her long imprisonment. And, more amazingly than she had ever thought possible, he asked her to reside with him. Since then, the kindness with which he treated her, in spite of all of she and her stone sister's horrible misdoings of the past, had only made her admirance grow. And now, the feeling was no different. . .

"Alright," she whispered at last. He then smiled a smile that she wouldn't dare to look at, for she wouldn't trust herself to remain contained.

"Let me watch over the dinner for a while. I promise that I won't ruin it."

She nodded and rose, smoothing her dress and smiling in spite of herself at his faith in her. "I guess I could relax for just a little while."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

There were no doubts in her mind as she left for the parlor. In fact, dinner was no longer a concern.

Perhaps it would be a merry Christmas after all.

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A bit of Marlene/Ari fluff. I was going to make this longer, and include the rest of the cast, but time simply wouldn't allow. And what good is a Christmas fic after Christmas? Exactly.

So, I hope everyone liked it. May your own Christmases be merry! ^_______^


End file.
